The nature of surfaces has been shown to have significant effects on the settlement of marine organisms. However, the few studies on the effect of natural rock surfaces on barnacle settlement have produced conflicting results. Here the settlement of Balanus balanoides (L.) cyprids on a variety of natural rock-types is investigated in situ in the absence of strong colour cues. The potential effect of surface texture was minimised as only 5 of the 15 examined rocks showed significant differences in surface rugosity. Significant differences in settlement preferences between rock types were observed independent of any potential effect of surface rugosity or colour cues which were found to have no effect on settlement. Slate was the most attractive rock-type followed by quartz and marble. Millstone grit sandstone and granitic gneiss were the least attractive and showed significant differences from slate, quartz and marble but not from all other rock-types. It is proposed that these differences are due either individually or in combination to the ability of a particular rock-type to sequest/partition solutes, and the scale of the physio-chemical heterogeneity of the rock type.